Venomous Vengeance

Chapter 9

I go downstairs and find a practically deserted house. Typically there was a few from Nicolo's most trusted circle that would roam the halls, talking about business and shit like that. Usually Xavier and Rocco were hanging around too, always up to something dumb.

But today the house was quiet, I couldn't see a single person.

Odd.

The sweet smell of baked goods draws my attention to the kitchen. Walking in I see Nicolo and Maria together. Nicolo is wearing grey sweats and a black t-shirt. Lord help me.

He looks annoyed and I notice that he is covered in flour, all over his face, shirt, and even in his hair. Maria on the other hand, wearing a pink shirt, blue jeans, and a white apron, is spotless.

She is washing a dish while she speaks, "Niccy, I told you. You are supposed to blend on a low speed when you add the flour, but you were all like 'meh meh I want it done faster so I'm gonna use the faster speed.'", she mocks his deep voice, making talking motions with her hand while teasing him.

He rolls his eyes and crosses his arms. "I just don't understand why you would have me do the mixing. You know that I am not good at this shit."

"Because I knew you would end up looking like that." She sticks her tongue out and laughs at him, "Sei troppo impaziente fratello." (You are far too impatient brother.)

He sighs and shakes his head, then his eyes meet mine. I didn't realize that I was smiling at the situation, until his eyes met my lips and his sour expression turned to one of joy. "Good morning cara mia." (my dear)

I fix my face and walk over to them. "Good morning." I look at the huge mess of flour and what looked like some sort of batter splattered on the marble countertops. "Who killed the Pillsbury dough boy?"

Maria laughs and points at Nicolo, to which he rolls his eyes, "Maria wanted to make you muffins." He explained.

Maria tutted, "Ah ah, you were all 'I wanna do something nice for Alessia, she is so pretty, I love her sooo much, I-'", but she is cut off as Nicolo charges at her, causing her to squeal and flee from the kitchen.

I raise an eyebrow at him as he turns back around to me, his face flustered as he clears his throat before speaking. "Um, well I didn't say any of that, but I did say I wanted to do something nice for you."

I grin a little before stepping forward and wiping a bit of flour off of his cheek. "It's alright, Niccy." I tease, using the name I heard Maria call him.

"Hey, only Maria can call me that." He says holding up a finger. I smirk, "Like you could stop me." I say boldly.

He raises an eyebrow and takes a step forward, "Are you challenging me, bella?" (beautiful) Another step. "It's not much of a challenge if there is no competition." I retaliate.

Before I know it I am backed up against the counter, his arms on either side of me resting on the surface. His body a mere inches away from mine, I could feel his breath on my face. Placing a finger under my chin, he tilts my head up to look him in the eyes. Those dangerous, brown eyes. "Donna feroce." (Fierce woman.), he mutters, now looking down at my lips. He leans closer, his cologne invading my senses, goosebumps trailing up my arms.

Ding!

The timer on the oven goes off, causing us to pull away from one another, breaking out of the little bubble we were just secluded in. He awkwardly clears his throat and turns away, opening the oven and pulling out a tray of chocolate chip muffins.

He turns around and presents them to me, a goofy smile on his face as he beams, clearly proud of his work. I couldn't blame him, they looked amazing and smelled even better. "I didn't know you could bake." I say as he sets the tray down to cool.

"Well, I can't, that's why I had Maria helping me." He says as he pulls off the oven mitts and sets them to the side. "I thought we could use a little victory breakfast after last night." he shrugs.

I nod and smile a little, "That sounds really nice actually.", which earns a smile from him. "I am going to go wash up," he says, gesturing to his heavily flour covered body, "by the time I am back the muffins will be cool enough to eat. Don't touch them." He says firmly before exiting the room.

I go over to the heavenly looking muffins, glancing over my shoulder to make sure he was gone. I pluck off a chocolate chip and pop it in my mouth, savoring the warm, melty morsel.

I'll do as I damn well please.

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We pull up to the run down looking building. With the board covered windows and the faded crumbling bricks, I never would have thought this to be a building that the Italian Mafia used to handle some of their business.

Rocco had been gone all day because he was searching for Sebastian, the man that was supposed to meet us last night and give us information on Vittoria, but instead chose to warn her about our arrival at the club. He was the cause of the attack last night. He crossed the Mafia, and you don't exactly get a free pass for doing so.

This building was referred to as the warehouse. Nicolo has multiple building like this scattered throughout the city, they are used for anything from arms deals, drug deals, business matters, or my personal favorite, getting useful information.

Also known as torture.

We walk into the building, everyone we walk by nods at Nicolo as a sign of respect before turning back to their work. His presence was powerful, the entire room knew he was there as soon as he was through the doors. It makes sense why he is the leader of all this shit.

I follow Nicolo to a large steel door, watching as he puts in a combination, causing a clicking noise and the door to unlock. Walking down the stairs, I look around. It is extremely dimly lit, the only light from dangling light fixtures, most of them broken. We turn down a hall that has doors lined left and right. Nicolo stops in front of one and turns to me.

"Are you ready?" he asks with his hand on the knob.

I scoff, "Are you serious?" I look at him with raised eyebrows. He chuckles a little, "Just checking."

His face falls into one with no emotions before opening the door. In the poorly lit room, there is a man strapped to a chair, his head hanging down. I close the door behind us and stand off to the side, hiding in the shadows.

Nicolo walks over to the man, stopping just in front of him.

"Hello Sebastian."

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